A Hard Death
Authors: Jonathan Hayes
Jonathan Hayes
“Let there be light!” said God, and there was Light!
“Let there be Blood!” says man, and there's a sea!
Byron, “Don Juan”
The airboat was nearing the edges of the Glades, wendingâ¦
Jenner watched the old man push the shopping cart acrossâ¦
Out in the Everglades, Jenner ran along the old canalâ¦
Jenner climbed the concrete barrier and scrambled down the embankment.
The tow truck pulled the car over the lip ofâ¦
Jenner straightened. “You guys got a camera?”
Adam Weiss was thinking:
This is bullshit
. This guy isâ¦
It was well after dark when Nash drove the patrolâ¦
The deputy sat inside the car, watching them move theâ¦
Jenner asked all staff other than Flanagan, and Bunny Rutledgeâ¦
Cause of death wasn't an issueâanyone could see someone hadâ¦
Jenner walked out into the steel-gray morning, blinking in theâ¦
Adam Weiss leaned back against the tree, his ear stillâ¦
The manager served Jenner his Fontaine Shack Special Burger.
Jenner's route home took him back through the heart ofâ¦
Jenner was woken by a loud bang from the lotâ¦
The phone was a grinding dentist's drill jammed into theâ¦
After pushing the dog out of his cabin, Jenner walkedâ¦
At first, he made pretty good time. The sedge wasâ¦
Jenner stood in the mud, peering into the hammock asâ¦
It was after eleven a.m. The rain had settled toâ¦
The swamp buggy lumbered toward them, ripping a broad Vâ¦
Adam Weiss pumped the pedals hard, then coasted, lifting upâ¦
They brought the bodies by airboat to the Coast Guardâ¦
Things were worse at the office. Driving down the scrubâ¦
Just after three p.m., they heard the sirens.
In the makeup chair, Amanda Tucker had finally had enoughâ¦
In the shadow of the gatehouse eaves, Adam Weiss waitedâ¦
Alone in the quiet of the morgue, Jenner sat onâ¦
Jenner dropped the paperwork in the office, then sat atâ¦
Their conversation was briefâthere wasn't much to say, and sheâ¦
Jenner flicked on the lights in the garage. Marty's car,â¦
The Palmetto Court again. Jenner left his muddy waders inâ¦
Jenner lay in bed, talking to Annie Carr on theâ¦
As soon as Jenner's seat belt clicked shut, the dogâ¦
Jenner glanced up at the autopsy room clock. Three p.m.
The shadows of the western poplars were longer now, crawlingâ¦
The truck seemed larger; Adam dismissed it as a trickâ¦
It was just after quarter to seven when Jenner pulledâ¦
They took Adam out to the fields south of Belâ¦
The clubhouse at the Port Fontaine Polo Grounds Country Clubâ¦
Adam was flying now, pedal to the metal, pedal toâ¦
The black Mercedes SUV sheared into a howling skid, theâ¦
The maître d' escorted Chip Craine through the lobby andâ¦
Jenner walked out beyond the barrier of the box privetâ¦
Jenner drove the Bentley back to Stella Maris, taking itâ¦
The sound of movement.
Jenner woke at seven a.m. Maggie was wearing her whiteâ¦
Clay Martin tapped the desk in front of Arlene Sotoâ¦
As Cooper and Martin left the office, a small mobâ¦
Jenner shook his head. Something was definitely not right here.
Bunny was suturing the body closed when Highway Patrol showedâ¦
Jenner watched the two troopers walk back down the hallâ¦
With the entire mortuary staff standing in the sheriff's officeâ¦
Three hours: enough time to get up to Bel Arbreâ¦
Rudge found Jenner in the loading dock, standing over aâ¦
They drove north on I-55 into a darkening sky. Rudgeâ¦
Rudge was calling Jenner from the roadside, his jacket heldâ¦
Maggie looked at the dog Jenner had brought in.
Rudge and Jenner ate in the parking lot next toâ¦
The UFL visit could've gone better. The farm manager mistookâ¦
It was past seven p.m. when Rudge dropped Jenner atâ¦
Deb Putnam sat on Jenner's porch, stomach growling.
Daylight. Jenner had left the curtains open, and the cabinâ¦
Brodie stood at the top of the gentle slope, lookingâ¦
At ten thirty a.m., Jenner was dictating his report onâ¦
Leila, the head of Craine's household staff, was waiting forâ¦
In the embalming room, Smith watched Reggie Jones open Mrs.â¦
When he was safely out of Port Fontaine and ontoâ¦
At lunchtime, her mom still wasn't back from the memorialâ¦
A steady stream of mourners filed in and out ofâ¦
The medical examiner's office was still deserted. Bucky and Calvinâ¦
When the staff began to drift back into the officeâ¦
Smith was edgy. It was a cash monthâevery fourth monthâ¦
Jenner decided to try Maggie Craine one last time. Theâ¦
After the memorial service, the news cameras around the medicalâ¦
The office was deserted; the staff had knocked off earlyâ¦
Hold still just a sec, Amanda. I'm going to tapeâ¦
Jenner didn't see Maggie's text at first. It wasn't untilâ¦
Rudge checked the clock on his kitchen wall: he'd madeâ¦
Amanda Tucker was waiting for Jenner at his cabin, standingâ¦
Onscreen, Dooley Wilson was at the piano in Rick's barâ¦
Amanda Tucker stood at the sink, holding up the hemâ¦
Jenner parked the Accent in front of the Super Target.
Still no answer from Rudge.
Dr. Ade was in the waiting room, talking with Maggie. Maggieâ¦
Jenner needed to see Rudge, talk it out, figure outâ¦
It was past eleven p.m. when they reached Rudge's placeâ¦
Jenner had been fired, for all intents and purposes, butâ¦
They were all watching Jennerâthe uniformed officers, Bartley, Halvorsen, theâ¦
It was late, but he knew her mother was out.
Jenner stood in front of the charred husk of hisâ¦
Jenner woke to the sound of gulls. He was inâ¦
Jenner was sitting at the wicker desk, wearing a freshâ¦
Chip Craine looked well-rested, tanned, and healthy in sunglasses, open-neckedâ¦
A faint, coppery smell of sweat and paper and coinâ¦
Twenty minutes later, Jenner returned to his room carrying twoâ¦
Jenner drove slowly through the municipal lot, past cop carsâ¦
The interrogation room smelled of stale sweat. As the videoâ¦
When Jenner had finished his good-byes at the morgue, Flanaganâ¦
Jenner called Deb Putnam; she was in the field, onâ¦
Jenner was relieved the Mercedes wasn't in the shelter parkingâ¦
The Polo Course was a luxury development, seven or eightâ¦
Deb Putnam steadied the clipboard on the hood of herâ¦
Jenner was a few miles south of Bel Arbre whenâ¦
As she got out of the car, Nash murmured, “Docâ¦
Brodie stood on the farmhouse porch, looking at the bunkhouses.
Doctor! Get her gun! Get her pistol.
Now
!
Nash motioned down the highway ahead, tapped his gun againstâ¦
Smith and Bentas watched the Taurus approach up the mainâ¦
Nash was jittery and pale, talking a mile a minute.
Brodie watched Craine drive up. He climbed onto the porchâ¦
“Jenner? I think the bleeding has stopped.”
Nash felt his rain-soaked shirt cling to the gun wedgedâ¦
“Hey, officer. Brodie wants to know have you taken careâ¦
Jenner needed to get rid of the body, get itâ¦
In the dull light in the shed, Deb was sittingâ¦
They had to get moving.
Now
.
Brodie watched Chip Craine, shirt untucked, face ruddy and glisteningâ¦
From the shadows along the shed, Jenner watched Craine takeâ¦
The hierarchy at the farm was preserved at dinnertime asâ¦
Bartley finished strapping on his body armor standing inside theâ¦
Brodie was relaxed. He'd been planning for this moment forâ¦
Deb draped her arm over Jenner's shoulder, and together theyâ¦
Bartley was in the Explorer with two of the teamâ¦
Craine stood on the dock, staring up over the fieldsâ¦
Jenner lay by the road toward the north end ofâ¦
The bunkhouses exploded into a single curtain of orange flameâ¦
Jenner ran the length of the dock and dove, swimmingâ¦
Fifteen minutes later, Jenner still hadn't found her. He wasâ¦
Deb held still as the bright light cut through theâ¦
Brodie, up on the bench behind the airboat's stick, peeredâ¦
Above the engine, Brodie yelled, “Where's the girl?”
The light from the airboat had gone, and Deb couldn'tâ¦
Brodie's eyes scanned the banks of the river. Nothing. Itâ¦
Brodie turned the airboat back toward the farm, then letâ¦
They came out of nowhere, two boats, big searchlights floodingâ¦